Politics.za

Here’s an interesting tidbit from the M&G. It seems the ANC will not announce their mayoral candidates until after the election. I was wondering about this as I was drinving through the leafy suburbs of Newlands as Helen Zille (DA) and Whatsisface Grindrod (ID) gazed down on me from their lamp post perches and noticed a distinct lack of our current mayor, Nomaindia Mfeketo.

Could this be part of Thabo Mbeki’s crusade to rid the ANC ranks of undesirables? Is he planning a complete blindside on his members come the 2nd of March? If I was an ANC councillor in a hotly contested area (like Cape Town) I’d be starting to worry just a bit especially as according to the IEC parties can rejigger their lists after elections.

The ANC is finding that drawing up electoral lists is harder than expected. Thabo Mbeki has stated that he intends to use these local elections to rid council of corruption and ‘populists’ but he’s going to find that hard to do when local ANC branches submit lists full of the people he is trying to get rid of. I don’t think that the national ANC structure can override to much of the choices of the local ANC wards without straining tensions in the ANC even further. Observe the ruckus going down in KZN where no ANC councillor is prepared to give up their R17 000 a month salary (39 000(!!) if you’re on the executive committee) without a fight.

To me it seems Mbeki has got two choices. He can walk a tightrope trying to find balance within the ANC and make as many people (including the voting public) as happy as possible. Or he can go in with a hammer and smash everything to the ground and try and rebuild it again. Which is what I suspect may happen. It’s been long suspected that Mbeki is trying to turn the ANC into a modern ‘European’ style political party and these local elections might just be the opportunity for him to try to do that. But there’s going to be a lot of ganshing of teeth from within the ANC along the way.

Coda takes a look at some political parties and finds most are more “eish” than “kief”.

And security holes abound as well.

Jony over at The Fishbowl was the first to notice that Thabo Mbeki is getting ready to rid the ANC electoral lists of “populists” ahead of the March local elections, in favour candidates with ‘necessary skills’.

This is not going to help ease tensions in the tri-partite alliance at all.

This week’s Sunday Times is a veritable smorgasbord of ANC bickering and infighting.

Firstly is the front page story that ANC Secretaty-General Kgalema Mothlante is being investigated as the source of the fake emails that laid out a conspiratorial plot between Deputy President Mlambo-Ngucka nad businessman Saki Macozoma to get rid of Jacob Zuma. This is another blow to the far left of the ANC/SACP/COSATU alliance who, while now trying to distance themselves from Zuma, had highlighted Mothlante as a possible replacement as “champion of the left”. Looks like they might have to get keep on looking. Perhaps they should try an Idols-type reality show (titled “Comrade Champion” naturally) where public entrants will be critiqued by a panel of judges (my picks: Jeremy Cronin, Blade Nzimande and international celebrity judge Hugo Chavez) in a variety of categories: Megaphone slogan shouting, populist speech writing, the popular (but much maligned by women’s groups as demeaning) red t-shirt modelling competition and the grand final task: the ability to dodge and recover from a verbal beatdown by Thabo Mbeki.

There is one cause for concern in the above report on a possible investigation: the police are planning to raid the NIA. Now if you remember the debacle that was the Scorpions raid on the offices of Shabir Schaik’s attorneys (where guns were almost drawn between Scorpions agents and SAP officers) then you, like me, are hoping the SAP send only those officers with the coolest of cool heads. And no guns.

Secondly is the article highlighting Tokyo Sexwale’s speech where he demands national government stop sending out “double messages” about AIDS and do something about the reality of the situation. No doubt that speech has endeared him even less to Thabo Mbeki.

And thirdly the infighting in the Western Cape ANC continues with opponents of lame duck Premier Ebrahim Rasool accusing him of paying journalists for good press. Ivan Flynn, editor of the Argus, has supended political editor Joseph Aranes and journalist Ashley Smith. As the article in the Sunday Times pointed out this reeks of the Information Scandal all over again and if true could be just as devastating.

Knowing that the ANC will do whatever they can to piss off the DA, Trevor Manuel must be feeling his chance of going all the way to the presidency is getting slimmer and slimmer with every arrival of the DA weekly email newsletter.

Manuel is one of the few ANC top dogs to get praise from the DA and this weeks newsletter was no different, first starting off with a hearty congrats for getting GDP growth to 5.1% and then copiously quoting Manuel as if he was Helen Suzman guiding the DA down the correct path to take.

If Manuel is ever overlooked by the ANC in the presidential succession battle you can be damn sure that the DA will be sending non-stop gift baskets and flowers to the Manuel-Ramos household trying to get Manuel to jump to the DA. Not that it will ever happen but even Tony Leon’s got to have a dream right?

And his list of potential successors is rather lean at the moment.

It seems the rumours of a rethinking of Zuma as “champion of the left” were true. The Sunday Times has a paper written by SACP honcho Jeremy Cronin which mentions that Cronin certainly doesn’t think Zuma is their man.

Now considering that this was written before the Zuma rape allegations came to the attention of the public it seems that with these new allegations Zuma might be finding himself even more isolated in the near future.

Although Cronin does say that Zuma has a “peasant” demeanour about him. Is that a compliment or an insult? With the Commies you can never tell.

After the first day of the ANC NEC meeting there’s still no indication of what is going down in the ANC. There seems to be plenty of tension in the air, although as the article mentions, it’s nice to see rivals put differences aside so they can enjoy a quick smoke out back.

One notable rumour that the article mentions is the “Plan B” option that some Zuma supporters are discussing in case they have to ditch JZ in the wilderness and throw their support behind someone else, possibly ANC Secretary General Kgalema Motlanthe. Which is wierd because he’s never seemed to me to be the most charismatic guy, which is one of the areas Mbeki also lacks and where any challenger could easily one up him.

Like other people I’m finding this whole Zuma rape allegation (or is it just an allegation of an allegation at the moment) is just adding more confusion and distraction to the whole sordid affair.

I feel like I’m the teenage daughter in Poltergeist who comes home to find her house (representing the ANC in this very bad analogy) glowing like a lightbulb with all sorts of wierd stuff happening inside and can only scream: “WHAT’S HAPPENING?!”

The ANC have re-iterated that there is no tension between Zuma and Mbeki. I repeat: No tension. None at all. Why the very thought is preposterous.

But boy would I like to get my hands on that report dealing with the “substance of the interactions between the president and deputy president over the last two months”.

_28th Sept: TM “skeefs” JZ out across office in Luthuli House. _

13th Oct: TM and JZ share elevator in Sandton. Awkward silence.

25th Oct: Trashtalking during weekly ANC Counter-Strike session. TM calls JZ “stupid camper”, TM accused of “whoring AWP”.